Safety fears after ‘drunken boy was lying on the road’ in Cookstown after ‘Monday club’

Shauna Corr

A Cookstown landlord has said he “is amazed no one has been killed” after reporting cars manoevring around “a drunken boy lying in the road” on Monday night.

Despite the weeks of drunkenness, public urination, defecation, littering, illegal parking and noise brought on by Monday night’s ‘student invasion’, locals said the situation is not improving.

Wine bottles and cans dumped in front of homes on Loy Street

The landlord, who’s responsible for a number of homes on Loy Street, said he has raised concerns with local politicians and police in recent weeks, but despite his emails “little or no action has been taken”.

In an email to the Mail today [Tuesday], he said: “Last night was another eye-opening experience in the lawless ‘Wild West’.

“Private cars on private property being interfered with; coaches on double yellows/ on the brow of a hill and at one stage a drunken boy was lying on the road, at the brow of the hill, with cars manoeuvring round him.

“I have said before - I’m amazed that no one has been killed.”

He also spoke of revellers trespassing at residential properties to go to the toilet.

Residents “should not have to put up with such terrifying and disgusting intimidation, especially in the early hours of a “school night” he added.

Police said they were not aware of the “drunken boy” lying on the road, but did confirm reports of “three people entering a garden and urinating” at 1.35pm.

A spokesman said they also attended to a woman “struggling to breath” in the Loy Street area in the early hours.

The landlord has now called on Mid Ulster council’s Environmental Health Department to take action on the “health issues of the Loy Hill public toilet and open sewer” and the litter that could attract vermin overnight.

A spokesperson for Mid Ulster Council said: “The council will continue to work with the local police to address the issues in the Loy Street area.”